Thunder Get Their Man, And It Was Harden All Along
I knew James Harden would be the pick since the draft lottery balls bounced the Thunder the third pick on May 19.
Sold I was that he would be the one putting on an Oklahoma City cap before walking up the steps of the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden, reaching the top of the stage and shaking NBA Commissioner David Stern’s hand while staring out at flashing bulbs.
Then Thunder GM Sam Presti misdirected me with his maneuvers over the past week. First he flew to L.A. to meet with Ricky Rubio last Saturday. Wanted to glance over his problematic contract and parlay with Rubio’s family and representatives. Three days later, word got out the Thunder had hired a Spanish law firm to give that complicated contract a careful once over.
It knocked me off my pivot. I should have held my ground.
Few understood how or why I had reached such a firm conclusion on Harden. My explanation was the same, through tens of radio interviews and tons of talks with editors and co-workers, friends and fans.
“He fits the Thunder way.”
Sam Presti Talks NBA Draft
Just got off a teleconference with Sam Presti. The Thunder’s general manager addressed his team’s needs going into tomorrow night’s NBA Draft, why the organization hired a Spanish law firm, what they could possibly do with the 25th selection and the newest rumor that has the Thunder trading up to get the 14th overall pick from Phoenix.
Presti was asked about what he learned from his meeting with Ricky Rubio last week and whether he is more comfortable with the situation after examining his contract, but he called the situation an “internal matter.” Presti was also asked about Russell Westbrook’s comments in ESPN The Magazine, but because he was unaware of the context of the question he felt it was inappropriate to comment on Westbrook’s comments. Presti did reiterate that Westbrook is a team-first guy, a competitor and a winner and has always been that way.
With that, I give you a transcript of your general manager’s thoughts on Thursday night’s draft.
Q: Can you talk about your areas of need are heading into Thursday? What are the areas you’ll be looking to address as you head into tomorrow?
A: We’re always looking for ways to improve the team, and the draft is another opportunity for us to take a step forward as an organization. Hopefully add a player or players to the team that we feel like have a chance to grow with us and continue to grow with the team that we have in place. I wouldn’t say that we’re going in looking to fulfill every need that we have as a ball club in one night. I don’t think that would be realistic. But we’re going to look to try to get a little bit better on Thursday night and ultimately see if we can add another piece to the puzzle.
Q: Can you say in any specific nature in terms of you guys needing more interior defense or more shooters, things that you may be looking for in these players that you will draft?
A: As a ball club that didn’t make the playoffs last year and obviously didn’t have the kind of success that we’d like to have from a win-loss standpoint, we’ve got a lot of needs. We’re no different than a lot of teams in the NBA. We’d love to be able to continue to add shooting and continue to improve our defense and continue to play more efficient basketball. That’s important to us. Like I said, we’re not going to address everything in one night. And one thing that I think is important for us organizationally, and maybe beyond the draft on Thursday, is the continued development and improvement from our players on our current roster. As we know we’ve got a younger team. And with younger teams, summertime is an important time for development. And Scott and his group have made a very consistent and conscious effort to hold a real sense of accountability for individual development and ultimately team development. So we’re looking forward to that being an important part to our summer and our overall improvement.
Q: Did you guys hire a Spanish law firm, and if so, what for?
A: I believe that the report was confirmed from the team. And secondly we want to be as thorough as we possibly can as we prepare for the draft in all aspects. It’s not specific to one piece of information that was reported.
More From The Chad Ford Q&A
In today’s editions of The Oklahoman I did a Q&A with Chad Ford, who covers the NBA Draft for ESPN.com. Here’s more of what Ford had to say.
Q: What’s your approach to covering the draft?
A: I don’t really think the fans care so much what I think about a particular player. I, like everybody, have opinions about who I like and who I don’t like in the draft. But what I want to try to capture for them is what NBA scouts and NBA GMs think about the draft. Who they like and why? Why sometimes a great college player doesn’t translate to the pros? Or why sometimes a mediocre college player gets ranked so high? And what I try to do in my top 100 is build a consensus from all the scouts and front office people that I’ve talked to to try to get a look at overall who are the best players in the draft.
Q: Do you look forward to this time of the year, sort of like a child looks forward to Christmas?
A: I love it. From 2001-05 I covered the entire NBA. The draft was just a part of what I did. When I moved to Hawaii and became a professor, the one piece that I couldn’t give up was the draft. I’ve always loved it. I loved it since I was a kid, and it is Christmas. I don’t care how much work it is. The last two days I probably won’t sleep a minute talking to people through the night and then writing from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. and then doing ESPN Radio starting right after that. But I love it, and I think I’ve got the best job in the world.
Q: Is it true you spend 11 months out of the year in Hawaii and come here and hit the circuit from the period between the draft lottery and the draft?
A: Yeah about 10 months out of the year in Hawaii. Then I’m traveling around in May and June and a little bit of April.
Q: How do you sift through all the smokescreens this time of year and decipher what’s real?
A: That’s hard. And, listen, I get stuff wrong. I have two criteria. I try to get multiple people for confirmation on something or more than one person telling me the same thing who didn’t hear it from the other guy who told me. The second thing is just about relationships. I know these guys over time. I know the people who tend to mislead me when it comes to the draft. I’ve definitely been burned on more than one occasion by a number of guys in the league. I take their reputation with me into account when sifting through things. But it’s a dicey business because, especially right now, there is very little that an NBA GM or agent will tell you that isn’t self-serving. If they are leaking something it’s because it’s in their best interest.
Camby To OKC? Presti Meets Rubio. Thabeet To Memphis?
I just got back in town from a weekend away and was out of touch, but I wanted to make sure I posted everything that’s been going on while I was away. And there was quite a bit of news over the past two days.
The Thunder had a workout Friday morning with six prospects, all of them power forwards. The session included Oklahoma’s Taylor Griffin, USC’s Taj Gibson, Michigan State’s Goran Suton, Villanova’s Dante Cunningham, Texas’ Connor Atchley and Pittsburgh’s Tyrell Biggs.
The biggest news of the weekend, however, involved Ricky Rubio, the most puzzling player in this year’s draft. The Sacramento Bee first reported that Thunder officials traveled to Los Angeles to meet with Rubio on Saturday. Rubio has confirmed the report on his Twitter page. The Bee also reported over the weekend that Rubio’s buyout situation is close to being resolved, perhaps providing closure to the biggest question hovering over the 18-year-old point guard’s draft status.
Should Presti Have Traded Ray Allen & Rashard Lewis? You Betcha.
Ray Allen became a champion nearly one year to the date after general manager Sam Presti traded him from the Seattle Sonics to the Boston Celtics.
Rashard Lewis, nearly two years after Presti agreed to a sign-and-trade that sent him to Orlando, now sits four wins away from helping the Magic hoist that same gold championship ball.
The successes of the former franchise cornerstones has made it easy for folks to waive the “I-told-you-so” finger at Presti and team chairman Clay Bennett, who were accused of gutting the team with the intent to create fan apathy and split for OKC.
Lenny Wilkens, a man who wore many hats with the Sonics franchise but departed as vice chairman, tells the Seattle Times he urged Bennett to not dismantle the team. Wilkens resigned shortly after both All-Stars were traded and cited a difference of opinion with ownership.
“It’s unfortunate Seattle lost Rashard, but he turned out to be a heck of a player for the Magic,” Wilkens said. “I thought Seattle should have kept him. It was a major cause of concern and after [the Lewis trade] I knew they were going in a different direction than what I planned.”
Report: OKC Leaning Toward Harden
A report by the Web site Draftexpress.com says the Thunder is leaning toward selecting Arizona State shooting guard James Harden with the third overall pick in next month’s draft and has little interest in point guard Ricky Rubio.
The Web site, reporting from the Pre-Draft Camp in Chicago, said Harden has canceled his interviews with every team drafting outside of the top five and will not conduct any workouts with anyone during the draft process.
“A source close to him tells us he feels very good about the possibility of being selected by Oklahoma City or Washington, and for right now is not planning on visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Most teams we’ve spoken to in Chicago are indicating that they believe Oklahoma City is indeed leaning towards taking Harden. They also believe the Thunder are not enamored with Rubio at all, as they are committed to developing Russell Westbrook at his natural position — point guard.”
While Harden seems to be a great fit on the Thunder alongside Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, don’t read too much into the report. For starters, it’s May 29, nearly a full month before the draft. Secondly, the Thunder’s brass is impressed with the skills of Rubio and likely wouldn’t pass up on him because of Westbrook. With Westbrook in the fold, things are a little more complicated if you add Rubio to the mix. But the Thunder is looking to add talented players, not necessarily players that fit best based on need. And finally, we all know Thunder general manager Sam Presti is as meticulous as they come. He hasn’t even had a chance to get much one-on-one time with the top prospects to evaluate them so it’s unlikely he’s “leaning” either way at this point.
Presti saw reports like this coming on the night of the lottery when he cautioned the media and fans to not run with rumbling that creeps up.
“Much will be said up until the draft about players will go here and players will go there,” Presti said. “I can tell you that we won’t have it all figured out. We continue to do our work, collect information and on the 25th we’ll be ready to make a pick.”
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Presti Talks Draft Lottery
So much for Blake Griffin
General manager Sam Presti had a 14 1/2 minute teleconference following Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. The Thunder moved up a spot and got the third pick in the draft, and Presti talked about the prospects that are expected to be available at No. 3, whether he’s open to trading the pick, whether to move up or down, and what it was like to be locked in the room where all the magic happened. The transcript is quite long, but I’ll post it in its entirity.
Opening statement
SP: Well first, we’re thrilled as an organization to be picking third. We’ve got a great opportunity in front of us to add a player that we think can grow with our team as we continue to build the franchise. It’s a great day for our fans. We’re truly excited for them as well because this will be their inaugural draft. We’ll welcome another player into the Thunder family, and our fans have been incredibly supportive throughout the season and continue to be. So we’re ready to start to get to work, get to know this group of players on a more intimate level and we’re thrilled that we moved up a spot.
Q: What is the likelihood that you will examine a trade, whether up or down?
A: At this point in the year we’re charged with examining everything. We’ll take calls. We’ll make calls. It’s like that every year. This year we’ll approach it the same way that we have every year, which is we’ll take a look at everything and ultimately decide what’s best for the organization.
Q: What are your early impressions of Hasheem Thabeet and do you think he could be what this team needs as far as interior defense?
A: We’ve followed him as we have all the players in the draft and we’ll continue to study him more. He’s had a nice career in college and he’s someone that we’ll look at in the group of players that we continue to study. Much will be said up until the draft about players will go here and players will go there. I can tell you that we won’t have it all figured out. We continue to do our work, collect information and on the 25th we’ll be ready to make a pick.
